A brief survey of Izapan
iconography and astronomy in the Group F ballcourt

John Major Jenkins. Copyright
2001

What follows is a brief exploration of
Izapan iconography and orientations in the light of horizon astronomy. This
material was first published in a lengthy monograph (Izapa
Cosmos, 1996) and later incorporated into my book
Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 (1998).
Since these publications I have felt that Izapan iconography and astronomy needed
more attention, and perhaps supportive illustrations and diagrams would be helpful
to illustrate what we find. In this brief recapitulation, I will focus on the
monuments of Group F, for they clearly suggest something profound and unrecognized
about the Izapan awareness of astronomy.

Izapas heydey occurred between
300 BC and AD 50. Its monuments
contain recognizable scenes from Maya Creation mythology adventures of
the Hero Twins, their father, and their triumph over Seven Macaw. These themes
were later incorporated into the Quiché Popol
Vuh. I have already suggested that Stela 25 from
Izapa embodies a dialectic between two parts of the skythe Big Dipper
polar region and the head of the Milky Way monster near Sagittarius:

Stela 25: The Big Dipper vs. The Milky Way

Stela 25 also contains a recognizable
Popol Vuh episode,
in which Hunahpus arm is torn off by Seven Macaw. Since Seven Macaw is
identified with the Big Dipper of the polar region, I suggested (1996, 1998)
that the fall of Seven Macaw involved the demise of an old cosmological
system centered upon the polar region. The shamanistic concern with knowing
where the center of the sky is located is central to understanding this cosmological
shift. The shift, after Seven Macaw was done away with, was to an opposite
orientation, as revealed in the diagram above. The dialectic sets the head of
the alligator in opposition to Seven Macaw. This alligator-head
is the location of another cosmological center of the skyit
is the location of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. (Note: I am omitting
arguments and citations that can be found exhaustively documented in my book
Maya Cosmogenesis 2012).
Generally, this monumentas well as many others from Izapa; e.g., Stela
11 indicate an interest in the Milky Way, the dark-rift in the Milky Way
(the mouth is the dark-rift), and the Big Dipper.

Izapa's location

Im skipping over many related issues
now to move right into the monuments of Group F. My basic idea is that the content
of the monuments cannot be fully understood unless we take into account the
sites orientation, local topography, and horizon astronomy. These factors
will be particularly significant for understanding the Group F monuments. First,
lets zoom into Izapa by leaps. Above we see Izapas location in southern
Mesoamerica.

Next we zoom into Izapa more closely
and see that the site is located between two extremes of nature: mountains to
the north and ocean to the south (left, above). Next, we see the site plan.
The site is oriented some 21° east of true north, which is the sight line
to the peak of Tacana volcano. Also significant, the perpendicular to this main
axis is sighted on the December solstice horizon. Many monuments (e.g., Stela
11 in Group B) face this horizon.

In the diagram above right, we see the Group F
ballcourt on the north end of the site. We will need to zoom in even closer
to see how the lengthwise axis of the ballcourt, barely discernable here, is
oriented to the December solstice horizon. Note: we are omitting additional
supportive evidence in Groups A, B, and E for the thesis I will present.

Izapa, Group F ballcourt

Still oriented with north at the top
of the diagram, we see Group F. The significant monuments, found in
situ, are located in the ballcourt, indicated by
the circle. Archaeological evidence indicates activity in this group occurring
later than Izapas central groups, perhaps the first or second century
AD. Here and elsewhere,
even post-Classic activity has been identified. However, this doesnt mitigate
against the astronomical implications of the monuments that we find here. Whenever
they were placed there, by whomever, the same interpretation applies.

The monuments that we will now look at
were located by Brigham Young University, found in
situ. One of these monuments, a throne, faces the
December solstice horizon. In addition, the entire lengthwise axis of the ballcourt
is oriented toward that horizon.

A close-up view of the monument at position
A will not be illustrated; it portrays a crouching figure on top of a pillar.
Despite it's broken condition, it is clear that the figure faces the southeastward
solstice horizon. The monuments at position B include Throne 2, a ring-and-ball,
and a serpent head with open mouth that was originally a ballcourt marker stone.
We will illustrate these shortly. First let us look at the stela located at
position E, on the east end of the ballcourt. If you sat on Throne 2 at the
west end of the
ballcourt, you would look out over this stela, toward the December solstice
horizon.

Stela 60, portrayed here (above right),
is the one at position E in the diagram (above left). Although eroded, it is
clear that it shows a victorious ballplayer, probably one of the hero twins,
standing over a demised Seven Macaw bird deity. This indicates to the viewer
two things: the former god, now defeated, and the new god, newly victorious
or newly born. This scene relates to the Creation myth wherein the
hero twins must defeat the vain, false ruler of the previous world age, Seven
Macaw, before their father, One Hunahpu, can be reborn. A lengthy examination
of early Measoamerican calendrics is omitted here, which demonstrate that One
Hunahpu was probably associated with the December solstice sun at Izapa. The
ballcourt scenario just reviewed confirms that
separate argument. (Note: this is a pre-Classic identification.) And, of course,
it neednt be emphasizedbecause we can see it in the diagram abovethat
the December solstice sun rises over the stela depicting the demised Seven Macaw.
This basically says: the polar god is dead, the solar god is born. However,
the solar gods rebirth is inextricably involved in its future alignment
with the Milky Way more on this follows.

One feature not illustrated in the diagram
above, for clarity, is the Milky Way. Over an 8000-year period of precessional
movement, the solstice horizon would actually look like this:

Here we see the Milky Way converging
with the position of the dawning December solstice sun in a process caused by
the precession of the equinoxes. This is a very significant fact: the horizon
which we are examining is where a precession-caused convergence between the
Milky Way and the December solstice sun has been occurring for thousands of
years. Fact: The solstice solar god and the Milky Way align in the years around
AD 2012. Astronomically
said, the solstice meridian will align with the galactic plane. Is it a coincidence
that the designers of the Group F monument arrangements were interested in the
horizon along which this convergence occurs? Perhaps. But lets look now
at the two monuments found at locations C and D. These locations are midway
along the ballcourt, half-way between Stela 60 and the Throne 2 monuments.

On the north side of the ballcourt, at
position C, we find a solar lord sitting in the middle of a canoe with his arms
outstretched (see diagram above). The canoe probably represents both the ballcourt
and the Milky Way, toward which the ballcourt is oriented. The outstretched
arms indicate a period-ending measuring of time event. Since the
contextual orientation of the ballcourt is to the December solstice, which itself
is a period ending, we might presume that the solar lord is the December solstice
lord. (Also supported by the First Father/One Hunahpu = December solstice
sun evidence mentioned earlier.) This stela thus seems to portray the December
solstice sun sitting in the middle of the Milky Way canoe. It is
extremely interesting that the part of the Milky Way that rises over the solstice
horizon to the southeast is the nuclear bulge of the Milky Waythe part
of the Milky Way that contains the Galactic Center. (Note: Ive argued
extensively that the nuclear bulge and the Galactic Center can be noticed with
naked eye observation; anyone can confirm this by looking at the Milky Way on
a dark night. Radio telescopes are not required.]

It is an astronomical fact that 2,200
years ago the Milky Way, with its nuclear bulge, was 30° above the
dawning December solstice sun. Furthermore, in our era, the two have now converged
and the December solstice sun now sits in the middle of the Milky
Way. It is a period-ending event, as indicated on Stela 67, because the 13-baktun
cycle of the Long Count ends in AD 2012.
My main thesis is that the creators of the Long Count calendar intended the
2012 date to indicated this alignment of the December solstice sun with the
Milky Ways center. In the Creation myth, this astronomical convergence
was encoded as the rebirth of One Hunahpu. The earliest Long Count monuments
are dated to Izapas heydey (first-century BC)
 one at nearby Abaj Takalik and one at El
Baul . . . long side arguments omitted.

Well, we arent even to the most
intriguing set of symbols at position A. But first we need to briefly look at
the eroded sculpture found on the south side of the ballcourt, opposite the
stela we just examined. It has been compared to a danzante sculpture
found nearby at Tuxtla Chico, which in turn seems iconographically related to
the San Martín sky-lifter deity of the Olmec:

The Olmec sky-lifter on the far left
holds a bar that has been interpreted as the Milky Way. The lifting of the Milky
Way has been interpreted as a Creation event, or perhaps it just indicates that
the sky moves or shifts. The image suggests a deity who shifts the galactic
frame of the sky. (My interpretation here is perhaps close to a guess, and this
ambiguity shouldnt interfere with the very clear assemblage of evidence
already looked at.)

Well, the most compelling monuments in
the Group F ballcourt revolve around position A, all of which speak to the hypothesis
that the people who designed Group F were aware of the future convergence of
Milky Way and solstice sun, occurring over the southeastern horizon. See
diagram below. [Note: this throne group actually was found facing outward, over
Stela 60 on the opposite end of the ballcourt; I have rotated it here for viewing
purposes.] The main feature here (diagram below) is the throne, which has a
head birthing from between two splayed legs this is an iconographic motif
called the hocker position, indicating birthing. [Long related aside omitted
that discusses throne-sitting shamans as lords, birthers, ballplayers, and conjurers.]
The birth canal between the legs of the throne figure is analogous to the dark-rift
in the Milky Way, a prominent feature along the Milky Way that can be seen in
a previous diagram. This black cleft feature is called by the modern
Quiché Maya the xibalba be
(the Road to the Underworld).
As translator Dennis Tedlock has shown, it plays a key role in the Popol
Vuh, being also referred to as the Black Road.
Generally, as an underworld portal, it is related to the complex of motifs assigned
to the jaguars mouth, serpent mouths, caves, cenotes, a womans birth
canal, temple doorways, and so on. A significant equation in this mythic complex
is the dark-rift as birth canal, for it is through the birth canal
of the Milky Way that the solstice sun will be reborn in the years around 2012.

Here, the head is the sun, and the splayed
legs frame the birth canal that is the dark-rift in the Milky Way. Below this
head is a ball and ring, which refers to the symbolism of the ballgame. [Long
argument on the cosmic symbolism of the Maya ballgame omitted, which shows how
the gameball is the December solstice sun and the goalring is the dark-rift
in the Milky Way.] Finally, the upside-down serpent head on the left side of
the diagram above: These ballcourt markers usually
had a solar lord (or "ahau" face) in their mouths; this one doesnt
but it appears broken off. Again, this is the same symbolism: sun in serpent
mouth is equivalent to the other symbols, all of which indicate, in three different
ways, the convergence occurring over the distant horizon.

Im bringing this survey to a close
quickly now, even though much more could be cited as evidence for the thesis.
What I have attempted to do is interpret the iconography of these monuments
based upon the horizon astronomy toward which they are oriented and which they
were apparently intended to encode. Ive tried to keep this brief overview
simple, and I apologize for omitting so much relevant background, contextual
discussion, and related evidence at Izapa. But there is nothing hereexcepting
the better diagrams that isnt contained in my book Maya
Cosmogenesis 2012 (1998) or my monograph Izapan Cosmos (1996). [My
book The Center of Mayan Time (1995)
was an incomplete first analysis.] One thing is interesting to consider: Given
the integrative continuity of my interpretation, based upon a complicated set
of interweaving monuments, sculptures, calendrics, and alignments, is it likely
that Group F does not have
anything to do with the precessional convergence of Milky Way and solstice sun?

There are a few unanswered questions
here: The alignment of the ballcourt is actually a degree or two north of where
the sun breaks the horizon. Is this significant enough to demolish the thesis?
Or can it be explained by a visual preference to a perceived horizon location
as the sky begins to lighten rather
than where the sun breaks free? Or perhaps by the likelihood that solstice rituals
began many days before the solstice? Additional critique on my work at Izapa
came primarily through the Aztlan email list, which was disappointingly oblique
(opinions that the Popol Vuh does
not contain astronomy were offered as arguments against my thesis; the erroneous
idea that the Galactic Center is invisible; Classic-Period data
was invoked to override what was going on in the earlier Izapan context; Scheles
emphasis that 2012 is not the end of the world was brought up too).
This last example indicates that commentators were confusing two things: The
reconstruction of Izapan cosmology that I offer vs. having
to believe in it ourselves. To me, it seems unnecessary
to believe that the alignment of solstice and galaxy is astrologically significant
for us to appreciate the cosmological system encoded into Izapas monuments,
profound though it be. I have all the Aztlan exchanges, and others, in a file
if anyone wants to review them.

Gordon Brotherston supports precessional
knowledge in Mesoamerica. Milbraths recent book provides indirect contextual
support for my thesis although, strangely, she does not think precession was
a factor in Mesoamerican astronomy. John B. Carlson did not want me to send
him my book. E. C. Krupp initially had some feedback but now seems incommunicado.
Andrew MacDonald is a Mayanist who developed a three-axis hypothesis that complements
my observations at Izapa. I have read the Lowe and Norman material, but find
it wanting in some respects, except for the horizon and site alignment data.
Have you been able to reconfirm alignment measurements at the site? This is
one thing Id like better information on. Im very interested in engaging
in a dialog with someone like yourself, and would very much like to acquire
a copy of your Izapa thesis (any ideas on how to go about doing that?). If you
dont have a copy of Maya Cosmogenesis 2012
I will send you one. Ive tried to keep this
brief, as we are all very busy people. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated,
or perhaps you can pass this along to someone else who might be able to respond.
Thank you for your openness and time.